SYNOPSIS

Cracks in vibrating component can initiate catastrophic failures. The presence of cracks
changes the physical characteristics of a structure, which in turn alter its dynamic response
characteristics. In the field of research fault Diagnosis of damaged structures has been carried
out for last few decades across the globe. Several non-destructive techniques and health
monitoring system for damaged diagnosis proposed with higher computational time and less
accuracy. So methods can be thought of for crack detection in damaged structures with less
computational time and with higher accuracy. Crack depth and location are the main
parameters for the vibration analysis.
Ariaei et al. (1) have calculated the dynamic response of a cracked beam with moving masses
using DET and FEM techniques. J N Mahto (2) were investigated, efforts have been made to
find effect material on cantilever beam under vibration. Specimens were modelled and
analysed using FEM package. Mohammad-Taghi Vakil-Baghmisheh (3) observed that crack
caused a stiffness reduction with an inherent reduction in modal natural frequencies.
Consequently it leads to the change in the dynamic response of the beam. The analysis was
performed using ALGOR software. H.NAHVI et al. (4) have proposed an approach to
identify crack location and depth in a cantilever open cracked based on measured frequencies
and mode shapes of the beam. The crack is identified by plotting contours of normalized
frequency with normalized crack depth and location and by finding the intersection of
contours with constant modal frequency planes.
The effects of various parameters like crack location, crack depth on the changes in Natural
Frequencies of the beam is studied. An experimental setup is designed in which a brass
cantilever beam with cracks is excited by a power exciter and accelerometer attached to the
beam provides the response. The experimental results of frequencies can be obtained from
digital storage oscilloscope (DSO). It is found that, presence of crack in a beam decreases the
natural frequency which is more pronounced when the crack is near the fixed support than the
free end and the crack depth is more. Then the inverse problem is introduced, as the detection
of cracks is very difficult through naked eye and the non-destructive method of detecting
cracks which are used is very much costly. Here the first three Natural Frequencies are used
to detect the crack depth and location of crack in the beam. The first three natural frequencies
were considered as basic criterion for crack detection.

Cracks in structural members lead to local changes in their stiffness, flexibility and
consequently their static and dynamic behaviour is affected. The influence of cracks on
dynamic characteristics like natural frequencies, modes of vibration of structures has been the
subject of many investigations. The flexibility matrix method is used to calculate the stiffness
of the cracked beam here. The effects of various parameters like crack location, crack depth
on the changes in Natural Frequencies of the beam is studied. It is found that, presence of
crack in a beam decreases the natural frequency which is more pronounced when the crack is
near the fixed support than the free end and the crack depth is more. Then the inverse
problem is introduced, as the detection of cracks is very difficult through naked eye and the
non-destructive method of detecting cracks which are used, is very much costly. Here the first
three Natural Frequencies are used to detect the crack depth and location of crack in the
beam. It is found that the method is capable of predicting the crack location and depth for
cracks. This work may be useful for improving online conditioning and monitoring of
machine components and integrity assessment of the structures.
The material on which crack detection has been performed here is Brass cantilever beam but
however further the experimental procedure will be adopted for stainless steel cantilever
beam. We will see that in the case of stainless steel the natural frequency really decreases
with the presence of crack with the same rate as in case of brass. After compilation of the
results of variation of crack with natural frequency obtained from brass and stainless steel,
the results will be validated with finite element method (FEM) and experimental analysis
techniques. Numerical data obtained from FEM analysis were further tabulated and plotted
for further useful analysis. Using numerical techniques, polynomial equations were also
developed so that intermediate data will be determined.

Refrences:1. Ariaei, A., Ziaei-Rad, S. and Ghayour, M. (2009) Vibration analysis of beams with
open and breathing cracks subjected to moving masses, Journal of Sound and
Vibration, vol. 326, pp. 709724.
2. J N Mahto, SC Roy, RS Prasad Material of Structure affecting the Frequency Analysis using
FEM Package International Journal of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (IJMIE), ISSN
No. 2231 6477, Vol1, Issue4, 2012.

3. Mohammad-Taghi Vakil-Baghmisheh, Mansour Peimani, Morteza Homayoun

Sadeghi, Mir Mohammad Ettefagh (2007). Crack detection in beam-like structures
using genetic algorithms. Applied Soft Computing 8.
4. NAHVI H., Jabbari M., Crack detection in beams using experimental modal data and finite
element model, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences.,47 (2005):pp. 14771497